Sedona, AZ the beautiful - it's a fairyland, really

I expected Sedona, AZ to be beautiful, having heard of the Red Rock country and seen photographs of the area.  But, it is so much more.  The scenery is art, really natural art.  When the sunlight hits at the right angle, the rock formations light up in the most beautiful way.  My photographs don't even come close to capturing this.  But, I tried.

Sedona is a two-edged sword, though.  Along with the incredible, indescribable beauty comes commercialization.  Yes, the shops can be interesting, but Sedona has way, way more than it's share of shopping, dining, and resort living.  This is truly where the elite meet.

This area is also supposed to be a place of unexplained energy and a source of supernatural power.  Just to be clear, I did not sense an energy vortex.  And, I consider myself very sensitive.  Maybe I needed a crystal or two, but no vortex or vortexes spoke to me or Steve in Sedona.  Maybe that requires walking out into the high desert.  If so, it will need to wait for more toe healing because Donnie is only just starting to walk as human rather than ape.

We walked around the main shopping area, though, which was set smack in front of some of the most beautiful scenery in the world.  It was a constant puzzle to me that all of these people were shopping, walking, and chatting, but rarely looking up at this heart stopping beauty.  I guess we become immune to beauty after a while.  To a certain extent it happened to me, too, because I found more horse sculptures to photograph.  [I never thought I would say this, but "I love Arizona for it's amazing outdoor horse sculptures".  There - I said it.  A conservative bastion can be loved for other things.]

So, without further ado, here are the best of my photographs, which could not capture what I wanted them to show.

Havolinas.  You rub their snouts for luck.

The dancers' sculpture twirled around and around.

Magnificent horse.  Tempting to just mount up.

More horses. Arizona and I have a love-hate relationship.

It seems like blasphemy to shop and eat in front of that. So, I just photographed it.

Steve and I plan to go back soon and try to capture the afternoon light.  Today there were rain storms and the clouds were pretty dark.  My brother spend years trying to duplicate the sort of light that Vermeer had in his paintings.  Light is elusive, but we will try.

Tomorrow, our itinerary is undecided.  We are going to be here a while, so we thought we'd hunt for the nearest Public library and camp out in the AC to do some research on the subject.  In a conservative state, that could be a tall order.